Introduction by David McCullough The first truly comprehensive history of America's most compelling symbol, the Statue of Liberty, is the result of more than three years of research. The authors, Christian Blanchet and Bernard Dard, sought out original sources, interviewed over 1,000 people, and combed through more than 100 museums, collections, and libraries to compile this definitive history. Here is the little-known story of the statue's origins and the people who brought it to completion – such as Édouard de Laboulaye, who wanted to give the United States a gift that would both commemorate a friendship and make a political statement, engineering genius Gustave Eiffel, and above all, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the visionary sculptor who gave form to the idea of this colossal statue. A consummate entrepreneur, politician, and fundraiser, Bartholdi almost single-handedly sold his idea to a skeptical, and at times, unfriendly American public, who would later come to idolize his statue as a symbol of freedom and acceptance.